Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Meterology
Chap 5 Forms of condensation and precipitation
| Question | Answer | |
|---|---|---|
| CIRRUS (Ci) | Thin, delicate, fibrous ice-crystal clouds. Sometimes appear as hooked filaments called "mares tails" (small wispy clouds) | High clouds- above 6000m (20,000 ft) |
| CIRROSTRATUS (Cs) | Thin sheet of white ice-crystal clouds that may give the sky a milky look. Sometimes produces halos around the Sun and Moon. (larger wispy clouds( | High clouds- above 6000m (20,000 ft) |
| CIRROCUMULUS (Cc) | Thin, white ice-crystal clouds. In the form of ripples or waves, or globular masses all in a row. May produce a "mackerel sky". (separated cotton balls) | Least common of all high clouds. High clouds-above 6000m (20,000ft) |
| ALTOCUMULUS (Ac) | White to gray clouds often made up of separate globules: "sheepback" clouds. (big cotton balls close together or touching) | Middle clouds- 2000-6000m (6500 to 20,000ft) |
| ALTOSTRATUS (As) | Stratified veil of clouds that is generally thin, the Sun of Moon may be visible as a "bright spot," but no halos are produced. (more veil like than fibrous cirrus type clouds) | Middle clouds- 2000-6000m (6500 to 20,000 ft) |
| STRATUS (St) | Low uniform layer resembling fog but not resting on the ground. My produce drizzle. | Low clouds-below 2000 m (6500 ft) |
| STRATOCUMULUS (Sc) | Soft, gray clouds in globular patches or rolls. Rolls may join together to make a continuous cloud. | Low clouds-2000m (6500 ft) |
| NIMBOSTRATUS (Ns) | Amorphous layer of dark gray clouds. One of the chief precipitation-producing clouds. | Low clouds-below 2000m (6500 ft) |
| CUMULUS (Cu) | Dense, billowy clouds often characterized by flat bases. May occur as isolated clouds or closely packed. "fair weather clouds" | Clouds of vertical development these clouds generally form on sunny days so are "fair weather clouds" |
| CUMULONIMBUS (Cb) | Towering cloud, sometimes spreading out on top to form an "anvil head." Associated with heavy rainfall, thunder, lightning, hail, and tornadoes. | Clouds of vertical development |
| UNCINUS | "hook-shaped" is applied to streaks of cirrus clouds that are shaped like a comma resting on its side. | cirrus uncinus |
| FRACTUS | when stratus or cumulus clouds appear to be broken into smaller pieces, the adjective to describe them is | adjective |
| MAMMATUS | some clouds have rounded protuberances on their bottom surface, not unlike the udders of cows. | these are the udder like protuberances on the bottoms of some clouds |
| FOG | a cloud with its base at or very near the ground. light fog cuts visibility to 2 or 3 km dense for to a few dozen meters or less | physically, there is basically no difference between fog and a cloud. |
| RADIATION FOG | results from radiation cooling of the ground and adjacent air if there is no breeze the fog stays low a breeze could make it get thicker and higher | primarily a nighttime and early morning phenomenon the sun warms the air and dissipates the fog |
| ADVECTION FOG | when warm moist air is blown over a cold surface, it becomes chilled by contact. if cooling is sufficient the result will be a blanket of fog. ie over water. usually 300 to 600 meters deep | the term advection refers to air moving horizontally. winds need to move 10 to 30 kph for proper development |
| UPSLOPE FOG | created when relatively humid air moves up a gradual sloping plain or, in some cases, up the steep slopes of a mountain.If the dew point is reached, an extensive layer of fog may form. | because of the upward movement, air expands and cools adiabatically (this is the only type of fog that forms adiabatically) |
| STEAM FOG | when cool air moves over warm water & enough water evaporates to saturate the air immediately above the rising fog looks like rising steam | this is an evaporation fog this is common over lakes and rivers on cool mornings in the fall |
| clouds (definition) | visible aggregate of minute droplets of water, or tiny crystals of ice, or a mixture of both | |
| cloud condensation nuclei | tiny particles that serve as surfaces on which water vapor condenses. | they include microscopic dust, smoke and salt particles, all are profuse in lower temps. In the troposhere the relative humidity seldom exceeds 100% |
| what is important about cloud condensation nuclei important | if they are absent a relative humidity well in excess os 100% is necessary to produce cloud droplets | at very low temps-lowkinetic energies-water molecules will "stick together" in tiny cluster without the presence of condensation nuclei |
| hygroscopic nuclei | water seeking- particles that are the most effective sites for condensation | |
| hydrophobic nuclei | water repelling-although particles not effcient condensation nuclei, cloud droplets will form on them whenever the relative humidity reaches 100$ | |
| frontal or precipitation fog | warm air is lifter over colder air. I f the resulting clouds yield rain, and the cold air below is near the dew point, enough rain can evaporate to produce fog. | The result is a more or less continuous zone of condensed water droplets reaching from the ground up through the clouds. |
| steam fog and frontal fog | result from the addition of moisture to a layer of air. The air is usually cool or cold and already near saturation.Only a relatively modest amount of evaporation is necessary to produce saturated conditions and ... | |
| Why do I see my breath on cold mornings? | Creating steam fog. The moist air saturates a small volume of cold air, causing tiny droplets to form.Like most steam fogs, the droplets quickly evaporate as the "fog" mixes with the unsaturated air around it. | |
| Dew | The condensation of water vapor on objects that have radiated sufficient heat to lower their temp. below the dew point of the surrounding air. Different objects radiate heat at different rates, dew may form on some surfaces but not on others. | |
| Dew is more frequent on grass because? | Transpiration. Water vapor by the blades raises the relative humidity to higher levels directly above the blades. | |
| White frost (hoar frost) | This is not frozen dew. Rather it forms when the dew point of the air is below freezing. Thus, frost forms when water vapor changes directly from a gas into a solid called DEPOSITION. | |
| The two processes responsible for the formation of precipitation? | The Bergeron process and the collision-coales-cence process | |
| all clouds contain water, why do some produce precipitation and not others? | 1) cloud droplets are very small only 20 micrometers in diameter. (1 micrometer = .001 millimeter)(1 hair is 75 micrometers) This is because cond. nuclei are usually very abundant and the available water is distributed among numerous droplets rather | than concentrated into fewer large drops. 2)their small size causes them to fall at a incredibly slow rate. The average cloud drop would take several hours to reach the ground from a cloud base at 1000 meters. They usually evaporate in a few meters. |
| How large must a droplet grow in order to fall as precipitation? | The average rain drop has a diameter of 2000 micrometers (2 millimeters), or 100 times that of the average cloud droplet having the diameter of 20 micrometers. a typical raindrop is a million times that of a cloud droplet. | Clouds consist of many billions of tiny cloud droplets that all compete for the available water. Surprisingly condensation provides an inefficient means of raindrop formation. |
| the Bergeron process | con produce precipitation throughout the year in the middle latitudes, provided at least the upper portions of the clouds are cold enough to generate ice crystals. The type of precipitation that reaches the ground. (snow, sleet, rain, or freezing rain) | depends on the temp. profile in the lower few kilometers of the atmoshpere. Temp. above 4C snow melts before it reaches the ground & becomes rain. Even on a hot day a heavy downpour may have begun as a snowstorm high in the clouds overhead. |
| Supercooled | cloud droplets do not freeze at 0C as expected. Pure water suspended in the air doesn't freeze until it reaches -40C. Water in this state is referred to as supercooled. | This also explains why the stuff we call freezing rain or glaze falls as a lizuid but then turns to a sheet of ice when it strikes the pavement or a tree branch. |
| freezing nuclei | initiates the freezing process similar to the requirement for condensation nuclei the process of condensation. They are sparse in the atmosphere and do not generally become active until the temperature reaches -10C or below. | Clouds consist mainly of supercooled water droplets. Between -10C & -20C liquid droplets coexist with ice crystals, and below -20C, clouds are generally composed entirely of ice crystals-for example, high altitude cirrus clouds. |
| What makes it easier for water molecules to escape from supercooled liquid droplets? | The saturation vapor pressure above ice crystals is somewhat lower than above supercooled liquid droplts |
Created by:
cbarnett9
Popular Earth Science sets